No Government Ownership of Corporations in Whole or in Part

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

Backed by top GOP leaders including House Speaker John Boehner, Republican Rep. Mike Turner is introducing a constitutional amendment to ban the federal government from owning corporations in whole or part following aggressive intervention by the Treasury Department during the financial crisis.
:
Turner’s constitutional amendment “would stop a bailout where the end result is that the federal government owns a private company. The federal government would still be able in financial crisis situations to step in and provide loans, loan guarantees. But I think it’s particularly troublesome to Americans that the federal government could end up owning private industry,” he said.

Hmmmm…seems at first blush like a good idea, although I’m open to whatever arguments may exist that it might not be one. And, it must be said, not only has this thing has been a boondoggle from start to finish, but from all I’ve managed to learn about it that does seem to be the one spot where the whole thing came undone. The government bailout. Government calls the tune, everyone else has to dance.

And it warms my heart seeing some legislation proposed that is somewhat consistent with the real founding principles of the nation. Limited government. Laissez-faire.

Let the debates begin…

Can we add language that absolutely forbids any cash infusions to private companies? kthxbye.